Donner Car: 1976 Fiat Spider 124. Objective: Get my feet wet in the EV world and give me something to occupy some of my time in retirement. Challenges: Limited space, one spot in a three car garage in new house covered by a strict HOA. Advantages: Significant experience with large DIY projects. Built two vacation homes, built and flown experimental aircraft, car restoration, motorhome conversion and many other electrical mechanical systems. Background: Retire Lockheed System Engineer with AS and BS EE degrees. Age: 73. Location: Windsor Colorado
I want to build a low cost EV that is simple and performs similar to that of the 124 with the ICE. Range about 30 miles and used on relatively flat city streets with occasionally highway driving. Present design is 48 VDC Series Shunt Forklift motor of about 15 HP through the original 5 speed transmission and driven from a PWM controller from a 72 VDC LiFePo4 battery pack. No drive hardware obtained yet, still open to different technology. I intend to include significant instrumentation to monitor and document performance.
Additional information in "New Member" thread.
I intend to update this thread as I progress along with the project. Provide details on the design and lessons learned. I encourage input from the forum especially on simpler low cost approaches.
View attachment 133420
Striped down waiting for initial drive train.
I want to build a low cost EV that is simple and performs similar to that of the 124 with the ICE. Range about 30 miles and used on relatively flat city streets with occasionally highway driving. Present design is 48 VDC Series Shunt Forklift motor of about 15 HP through the original 5 speed transmission and driven from a PWM controller from a 72 VDC LiFePo4 battery pack. No drive hardware obtained yet, still open to different technology. I intend to include significant instrumentation to monitor and document performance.
Additional information in "New Member" thread.
I intend to update this thread as I progress along with the project. Provide details on the design and lessons learned. I encourage input from the forum especially on simpler low cost approaches.
View attachment 133420
Striped down waiting for initial drive train.